Science and Socialism

In conjunction with the Earth Day Network on April 22, hundreds of March for Science events are now planned around the world.

We are faced with the most serious problem ever to confront the human race and yet most scientists are still continuing to support a system of society which is the basic cause of both problems.

If the scientists were forced to sit down and apply their techniques of scientific investigation to human society and its evolution. they would come up with only one answer: the establishment of a system of society where production will be for direct use, goods and services will be free to all, and where all will have a direct democratic input because they are social equals. Socialism is unthinkable to the capitalist class and there servile lackeys in government, something utterly impracticable and unjustifiable. To a class that has been in possession for generations, the idea of common ownership is abhorrent. To-day they will not even admit the possibility of it. When they are forced to recognise it as an alternative to their own system, they will use all the forces at their disposal to hinder its advance.

Only then can we make rational decisions concerning production and our environment without the shackles of the market system. But then it is up to us and not the scientists to establish this system. In creating social change, you have to take people with you, or they will desert you. For socialists, who rely on a consensual understanding to effect socialist change, it’s not just a matter of simply defeating the other person in the argument. 

In the words of the visionary and humanitarian scientist, the late Carl Sagan:
“Humans have evolved gregariously. We delight in each other's company; we care for one another. We cooperate. Altruism is built into us. We have brilliantly deciphered some of the patterns of Nature. We have sufficient motivation to work together and the ability to figure out how to do it. If we are willing to contemplate nuclear war and the wholesale destruction of our emerging global society, should we not also be willing to contemplate a wholesale restructuring of our societies?”